in washington, washington had about 30,000 people as a city. 12,000 of them were black. the majority free, no slaves. >> what led to the first race riots? jefferson morley recounts what happened, part of what today's through new year's day on c- span2's book tv. >> "washington journal" continues. host: damian paletta join us here at the table. thank you for joining us. this is the fourth time that congress has had a post- christmas lame duck session. what does that tell you about the magnitude of the issues? guest: it is not like an issue us.'s snuck up on expiring tax cuts, payroll tax cuts is going away. all these things have been out there for a long time. some of this was put off because of the election. they have to get some kind of deal to avert what can be a messy beginning of the new year. host: any deal is likely to be limited. guest: we have heard about the talks between president obama and john boehner. a grand deal that would include some changes to social security, medicare, cuts in defense spending potentially as well. talking $4 trillion -- we are talking